Nigel Benn vs. Gerald McClellan Revisited

[Holyfield Headbutt]

Ok gang...I just watched this fight again, and, of course, all you can think about during the bout is what ended up happening to Gerald McClellan ( :( ). But I think there is MUCH more than meets the eye in that fight. In fact, in my opinion...


The G-Man very likely wins that fight if it's in America and/or with a different referee. There should've been no way Benn survived the first round without divine intervention. Gerald had just cracked Benn something FIERCE and had him sagging and half-conscious before he hit the ring apron. Benn beat the count fair and square, (and quite amazingly, I might add), Gerald charges from his corner once The Dark Destroyer is upright and prepared. Yet, right before he opens fire, the ref steps in the way and seperates the two for no reason! He continued to break the action, seemingly at random, for the rest of the round and to this day I think his unexplainable actions were the man things that saved Benn from a KO by 1, coupled with Benn's awesome fighting heart.

The ref, some Frenchie whose name escapes me right now, also failed to protect Gerald from Benn's frequent rabbit punches and illegal shots. Sometimes he'd warn Benn, but most of the time he'd let the two continue fighting while G-Man took powershots on the back of the head from Benn. Rabbit blows from Benn may or may not have contributed to the life-threatening brain damage McClellan developed shortly after.

Basically, it's my opinion that the referee had a clear biased towards Benn, evidenced by his failure to penalize Benn for his savage rabbit punches and headbutts (most notably in the 9th round, when Benn springs forward and gives Gerald a headbutt right in the eye without even throwing a punch) and his inexplicable desire to break McClellan's momentum almost every time the G-Man was attacking effectively.

It seemed as though this dirty offense was wearing down McClellan, and the arguement can be made that Benn's unprofessional tactics won him the fight. But just as notable is the fact that Benn landed clean, hard shots in almost every round, and landed a huuuuge right hand in the 10th round that was followed by McClellan collapsing seconds later for the first of 2 knockdowns. Gerald had feinted a right hand, and the stopped in his tracks, welcoming the booming straight right down the middle. It was the best shot landed since the 1st round, and it was why McClellan went down even though Benn missed his next two shots, and why he went down again without being tagged seriously. In fact, Ferdie Pacheco exclaimed that he thought McClellan was simply quitting.



I'll never know for sure what caused McClellan's permanent injuries; Benn's dirty-fighting, his steady flow of crunching shots, or that lone right hand bomb. But, because the knockout followed so closely after the straight right, and because of his relentless attack, and because of the fact that I happen to be a fan of his, I'll assume Benn's KO of McClellan was on the level. But I'll never be sure.



What do you think about this fight as a whole?

[jamesmcdonnell]

I have to admit, that when I watched the fight again recently, I came to exactly the same conclusion, something very iffy indeed was going on with the ref.

Had the ref not constantly intervened in the 1st round, Benn would never have seen the second, he was out on his feet, and the referee blatantly bought him time.

Perhaps the referee was under instruction to get a few rounds out of the fight for the sake of the promotion, the fact that McClellan was supposed to be the star, and Benn as Benn rightly stated after the fight 'they brought him here to bash me up' makes it seem highly unlikely that the referee would have been favouring Benn, but the actions of the ref would suggest otherwise.

Although I have tremendous admiration for Benn and especially his courageous efforts in that fight, but no way in gods earth should he have made it out of that 1st round.

I remember watching the fight last time, I noticed that as early as the 3rd round, Gerald began blinking uncontrollably, and I do suspect that one of the many blows he took to the back of the head MAY have contributed to this, as he hadn't really been hit with that many legal shots by this stage, as I recall from last viewing anyway.

The end result of this fight is such that i rarely like to revisit this topic, and can never count this fight in my list of greatest fights.

[The Keed]

The ref was clearly biased towards Benn, and gave him a lot of help in the 1st round.

BUT...

It still was amazing that Benn got through the round as it was, because he really was hurt.

I also had Benn ahead going into the 10th. I'm surprised the judges had McClellan ahead, especially since the fight was in England. Maybe Don King had something to do with that...

Controversy aside, I felt the fight exposed McClellan as being one-dimensional and having weak defense. He took flush shot after flush shot to the head, round after round. Benn's strategy was very simple... bob, weave, and then leap in with a hook with either hand... McClellan just kept walking into it and had no way to counter it.

[jamesmcdonnell]

What bothers me about the whole thing, is that if the fight had been left to run it's natural course, without the referee jumping in to prevent McClellan KOing him, McClellan most likely wouldn't have been a vegetable now. The same is true if the judges hadn't robbed Watson in his first fight with Benn.

[Woller]

I believe that you meen Watson against Eubank?

Søren Woller

[mrbassie]

I'll never know for sure what caused McClellan's permanent injuries; Benn's dirty-fighting, his steady flow of crunching shots, or that lone right hand bomb. But, because the knockout followed so closely after the straight right, and because of his relentless attack, and because of the fact that I happen to be a fan of his, I'll assume Benn's KO of McClellan was on the level. But I'll never be sure.

A combination of all but I think the most telling thing was that headbutt, straight away McClellan was blinking like crazy, the ref should've noticed that and had the doc look him over.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Whoops, yes, it was Eubank I mean, not Benn. :oops:

And yes, I think you might be right, I think possibly it was that headbutt
which started him blinking. The blinking looks to me like the start of
the brain injury, McClellan knew that something was wrong, poor guy
I wish he had just quit then and there, he fought on very bravely knowing that something wasn't right inside his head.

[stujones]

Whoops, yes, it was Eubank I mean, not Benn.

And yes, I think you might be right, I think possibly it was that headbutt
which started him blinking. The blinking looks to me like the start of
the brain injury, McClellan knew that something was wrong, poor guy
I wish he had just quit then and there, he fought on very bravely knowing that something wasn't right inside his head.

Yes James, do you remember it started (the blinking) going worse after the eighth round and Reg Gutteridge said a very spooky sentence like "Michael Watson was doing that in the corner before heading out for the 12th against Eubank".

It was such a terrible night.

[jamesmcdonnell]

That nigh almost made me turn my back on boxing, I was so appalled at what I had just witnessed, it seemed to barbaric, I am always stunned when people talk about it as a 'great victory' for Benn. I think the fight ruined Benn physically, and mentally I don't think he ever really had the same fire after that.

Personally, i think the referee had been instructed to make sure the fight didn't end in the first round, I will need to watch it again though, however after that first round, who could have thought Benn was going to win it, he was in trouble several times even after that.

[Holyfield Headbutt]

That nigh almost made me turn my back on boxing, I was so appalled at what I had just witnessed, it seemed to barbaric, I am always stunned when people talk about it as a 'great victory' for Benn.

To me, Benn's best win was either the McClellan KO or the smashing of Iran Barkley. Both were controversial because of Benn's dirty tactics, and both were slight favorites over Benn, so either one could be called his career-best win.

But, of course, the McClellan fight proved to be his defining fight.

That fight summed up Benn perfectly: An aggressive brawler with awesome power, an unsturdy chin, and a willingness to do ANYTHING to win.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I just watched the fight again very closely, and it is quite different
to how I remember it.

The blinking doesn't start until very late in the fight, and is DEFINETLY
as a result of the UNITENTIONAL headbutt in the 10th round. Benn Lunges forward as he throws a wild right hook and his head makes contact with the bridge of McClellan's nose. McClellan then goes down, instantly he knows that something isn't right, and if you watch this is the point at which he starts blinking.

He isn't looking for a way out at this point, but I wonder whether the headbut didn't drive some bone upward from the bridge of the nose, because after that he keeps dabbing at the nose when he gets up.

In the next round, McClellan looks all over the place, he is on the retreat, and he goes down from the first hard shot he takes, shots he took many times earlier in the night, and he insintinctively goes down.

McClellan takes the decision to quit, because he knows that something is badly wrong inside his head, and wants to get out of the ring as soon as possible. He gets up easily and goes to his corner straight away to sit down.

What I also didn't remember is how close to winning McClellan came to winning the fight in the 8th round. Benn was in desperate trouble again, he looked so tired and weak and the literally just collapsed to the canvas.

McClellan really didn't look great in that fight, he had so few shots in his arsenal, a decent left hook, but all his power was that right hand, his jab was OK, but he had no uppercut at all, which would have been the finisher against Benn that night in that low crouch.

McClellan was an awesome puncher, but not that much else.

[The Keed]

...but he had no uppercut at all, which would have been the finisher against Benn that night in that low crouch.

YES!!!

You noticed that too!

[Holyfield Headbutt]

Ironic, since Benn's two money punches were his right uppercut and his loaded-up straight right.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Benn's best punches were his rising hooks out of a crouch actually.

[MightyWarrior]

The other thing to notice is Gerald has his mouthpiece half way out from early on, like he was having trouble breathing.
Don't know if he trained too hard either, as like most of the world was expecting an early night. Should've probably got one too - I remember the ref seemed to take an age in giving Benn that count in round 1.

Who knows when the trouble started for the G-Man - after the brutal first fight with Jackson he complained of a terrible headache....

[jamesmcdonnell]

Having a terrible headache after being clobbered repeatedly by Julian Jackson is par for the course I think, I should think just about everyone who ever fought him ended up with a terrible headache. :wink:

I remember an interview with Manny Steward regarding that fight, I wish I could find where it was, but he said something very strange about the trouble with the mouthpiece, he was hinting at some sort of consipracy, something along the lines of Gerald being poisoned if I remember correctly.

Someone phoned Steward before the fight apparently, and said that Gerald was behaving erratically, damn I wish I had saved it as a file, it was really quite bizzare what he was saying. I know Manny says some very off the wall things, but this really took the biscuit.

I have seen fighters do that with their mouthpiece before, it's usually because they are too big, but I've never seen anyone push it out that far.

I did notice that Gerlad looked about 10 lbs or so lighter than Benn, he did come in under the limit and Benn looked huge compared to McClellan.

[MightyWarrior]

Gerald had an awesome chin - anyone who takes shots off Julian Jackson like that has too - it's usualy guys like that, who can take repeated shots, who end up in trouble.
That's why people should be looking out for McCullough, and trouble is they're not - judging by the Harrison fight.

Don't know about Manny's theories, but he must've been pretty bitter at losing his fighter like that.

As for the headaches, well I've never heard a fighter complain of those before - it seemed odd looking back - sore ribs, body etc yes..
I think it's mentioned in that book WAR BABY too, if I remember.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Yes, you are right, it is the fighters with the best chins who end up
getting hurt, a knockout is less damaging than having your brain
rattled around in your brain repeatedly round after round.

Mickey Ward complained of headaches and blurred visions after
the 2nd and 3rd Gatti fights, Ike Ibeabuchi had terrible headaches
after the Tua fight.

It's hard to know how to take Manny's comments, anyone else here know the interview I am talking about?

[MightyWarrior]

Could be posted on his Kronk website?

[dawudboxer]

Here is my opinion on how McClellan got brain damaged.

[dawudboxer]

Anyone have the punch stats? Benn hit McClellan with what seemed like a hundred huge right hands and left hooks.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Here is my opinion on how McClellan got brain damaged.

It is possible that he had a minor brain contusion that resulted from the Jackson fight, the area might have been more vulnerable following that fight, but it's impossible to say. What's for certain is that McClellan relied on his chin as a form of defence, he was far too open, and didn't seem to pay much regard to Jackson's power, which was pretty insane given Jackson's devastating KO record.

[JxhDel.]

I still cannot understand how they let it continue with Benn getting stormed off so bad at the beginning, but whatever. It was said by a guy of McClellan's team that he suffered that type of concussion before also in sparring, other from getting clipped on it by Jackson. It was a matter of time before someone strucked his Achille's heel

[jamesmcdonnell]

I still cannot understand how they let it continue with Benn getting stormed off so bad at the beginning, but whatever. It was said by a guy of McClellan's team that he suffered that type of concussion before also in sparring, other from getting clipped on it by Jackson. It was a matter of time before someone strucked his Achille's heel

Fight should definitely have been over in round 1 for my money, I find it hard to explain the referees justification at all. Gave Benn far too much time to recover by breaking up the action constantly.

[oogiebe]

I'll never know for sure what caused McClellan's permanent injuries; Benn's dirty-fighting, his steady flow of crunching shots, or that lone right hand bomb. But, because the knockout followed so closely after the straight right, and because of his relentless attack, and because of the fact that I happen to be a fan of his, I'll assume Benn's KO of McClellan was on the level. But I'll never be sure.

A combination of all but I think the most telling thing was that headbutt, straight away McClellan was blinking like crazy, the ref should've noticed that and had the doc look him over.

I remember when I saw this fight when it happened and thinking something was really wrong with McClellan. He was behaving strangely and the blinking and look of really being in pain was never addressed until it was too late. The other thing I remember noticing was Gerald seemingly being dull and then sharp, and then dull again in his fighting, and I mean seriously noticeable swings in his performance. I cannot watch this fight again as it really makes me very sad and very angry. The referee never had control of this fight, or was seriously biased.